Cooking with whole and healthy ingredients while dancing with my kids in my kitchen!

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So my posting does seem sporadic as of late, but I don’t want to close down my blog. So, I am now a “sporadic food blogger”. When I get especially inspired about a new recipe I have, or find one that I cannot stop using, etc. I will BLOG it! Or, if I get into a run of new recipes that I actually write down, I will BLOG! I want to have these for the future! I may make a cook book one day! For now though… sporadic.

In the mean time, I have asked my uncle, a GREAT cook, to sporadically (when he has a moment… which may not happen often) do a guest post on here! (or 2, or 100… whatever he can do!) I want some of his recipes, and the food I’ve been seeing him make lately look AMAZING! So, if you see another person posting, it’s on purpose, I promise!! Who knows…. maybe we will collaborate on a cookbook one day! Or a FOOD TRUCK! Or…. cook the BEST THANKSGIVING EVER! 🙂

Anyway… that’s what’s happening!

Oh, and I will be posting my new favorite brownie recipe later… IT’S AMAZING… and FLOUR free! WHAT?! Yes!

And, for my song of the day: (You’ll be able to tell what I saw over the weekend)

Since choosing to try out the “gluten free” fad in order to stay healthy and fit… it has really limited my choices when we eat at a chinese food restaurant. Luckily I am not gluten “intolerant”, and I do not have celiacs disease. I cannot imagine how hard that would be!! It’s mainly a choice and I do have a bit of cheats here and there. One thing I learned is that there is wheat in some soy sauce! I also learned that some chinese restaurants do use flour to thicken some of their sauces! With trying to be “good” on my diet I was pretty choosy about what I would order. I have found a new favorite though!! Mei Fun!! It is similar to chow mein, but it is made with gluten free rice noodles and loaded with yummy vegetables! It’s actually one of the less expensive dishes on the menu as well! WIN! Like anything though, I like to attempt to make it at home to see if I can do it. Always worth trying I say! (By the way… I did attempt egg drop soup for my husband. I’ve been told to stop trying, it’s not good when I make it. HAHAHAHAHA! So… I can NOT make egg drop soup. If anyone has a tried and true recipe without any food dyes, etc. please let me know.)

****Be sure to start soaking the noodles about an hour before you’re ready to start preparing the rest of the dish.

Instructions

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees F. At the same time, place your noodles in a large bowl of warm water and soak.

Place 1/2 pound jumbo shrimp on lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder and salt and pepper. Bake for 12-15 min from frozen.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in your wok until it just starts to smoke. Add the ham and stir-fry for about 20 seconds. Add the onion, garlic, and pepper, carrots, green beans and zucchini and stir-fry for another minute. The heat should still be high, and you should be stirring constantly. You want enough sizzle to produce that “wok hay” (literally translated to: ‘breath of the wok’) flavor. (this description taken from : Mei Fun Noodles )

Add the soaked noodles and give everything a good stir. Toss in the shrimp and stir-fry until the noodles are heated through–about 3-5 minutes.

Add the dry white wine, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Mix well. If your noodles begin to stick, the skillet is probably not hot enough. Just use your spatula and make sure to scrape anything off the bottom of the wok so it doesn’t burn!

Finish with the frozen peas. I toss them in to JUST barely heat them so they will “pop” when you bite into the baby peas. Serve! If you want a bit of spice, you can add sriracha or some pepper flakes to the top.

This will possibly be replacing my take-out! It was SOOO good!!!

If you find yourself craving some take-out, but want to be a bit careful, give this one a try! It’s delicious, not greasy, gluten-free and you’ll want it over and over again!

GUESS WHAT I GOT!?!?!?! A veggie spiralizer! My friend had a pampered chef party the other week and I saw that they have a spiralizer! Now… I’m mildly obsessed with all things Pampered Chef. It’s a problem… but I FORCED my friend to have a party, just so she could partially benefit from my obsession and need to order this spiralizer. So, because she’s a good friend, she hosted a party and I got it! YAY!

I’ve made this dish 2 times. Once by using the largest side of my cheese grader, and once by using my spiralizer. I did like both, but my favorite version was with the spiralizer. It was just FUN! It made the zucchini the size and texture of noodles. You can make a still delicious version with your cheese grater though if you don’t want to/don’t have the spiralizer.

My husband and daughter thought this was a WINNER!!! My sweet son couldn’t try it because it’s chock full of cheese and dairy… but I’m sure if he could, he would’ve loved it! Who doesn’t love alfredo?! And if you’re gonna splurge, you may as well splurge with veggies so you don’t feel QUITE as guilty!!

Gradually whisk in cream, italian seasoning and oregano. Cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste. (I am pretty generous with the black pepper. I think it makes the alfredo pretty and delicious.)

Stir in zucchini and the now chopped chicken tenderloins, and gently toss to combine.

Serve immediately, garnished with parsley and a bit more shredded parmesan cheese, if desired.

A couple of weeks ago my brother was over and I was trying to think of something easy and filling to make. I know both him AND my hubby LOVE potatoes and bacon. Then again, there are few that DON’T love that combination. Am I right?! So I cut up a few potatoes and just kept adding stuff I had in my fridge to the pan and VOILA! DINNER!

You want to know something weird though? My kids don’t love potatoes. The only type of potatoes they like are french fries. It’s a no to mashed potatoes, tater tots, hash browns, etc. Aren’t they weird. Who doesn’t love potatoes in all shapes, sizes and forms? MY CHILDREN. It’s like I don’t know who they are! They have some serious training to undergo. We’ve gotta work on them. Hopefully by Thanksgiving their MAJOR problem and pickiness of potatoes will be transformed. I will let you know. 🙂

So…. here is the HIT OF THE NIGHT with the adults. The kids had sandwiches. So THERE.

Ingredients:

6-10 slices of precooked bacon (I used black label hormel pre-cooked. You can also “pre-cook your own in the oven and then freeze what you don’t use and pull out as needed! Great trick for bacon cravings!!)

4-5 Yukon gold potatoes scrubbed and diced into bite size pieces (You can also buy the “pre chopped” homestyle fries from the frozen section of the grocery store for an easy option.

4 chicken tenderloins cooked (I sauteed with 1 TB olive oil, salt and pepper) and diced. You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken. That would be EASY and TASTY!

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2-3 TB olive oil

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 sweet mini red bell peppers diced

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 avocado (for topping)

Greek yogurt (for topping)

Salsa (also for topping)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend shredded cheeses

3 green onions, sliced thin

OPTIONAL: sprinkle with red chili flakes

Directions:

Bacon: Microwave the pre-cooked bacon on a plate with paper towel as directed on packaging. You can also cook raw bacon in the oven as directed. I just go for easy and quick bacon on nights like this!

Potatoes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scrub and diced the potatoes into bite size pieces. ( like the peel to still be on the potatoes. You can peel if you’d like to). Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder on the pan and stir around a bit. Spread the potatoes out in a single layer and bake for 20 minutes, stir well and bake an additional 15 – 20 minutes or until soft. Stir again and if needed bake another 10-15 min.

(If you need to saute chicken because you do not have leftover rotisserie chicken, do it NOW while potatoes are baking. Then set aside and rest once cooked. Dice right before you put onto the potatoes.)

Chop the bacon into small pieces. Remove the potatoes from the oven, stir again and sprinkle generously with shredded cheese, peppers, chicken, and chopped bacon. Return the tray to the oven and bake an additional 2-3 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Top with sliced green onions, avocado and greek yogurt (or sour cream) just before serving. Enjoy!

Sometimes I run low on ingredients. I know it seems weird if you’ve even seen my shopping lists… but I only go shopping every 2 weeks (Unless I poorly plan and run out of an essential like butter or milk). So, towards the end of the two weeks, if I have been cooking outside of my meal plan… I don’t always have all of the ingredients for my meal plan! AH! That happened last week and I had to go scrounging on pinterest for a recipe that had shrimp and rice… that wasn’t something I’d made a million times. I found this recipe: Cilantro Lime Black Bean Rice and Shrimp . I of course made my alterations and made my own recipe out of it, especially because I have a food blog… you gotta change at least 3 things to make it your own! The plus side? It took me less than 30 minutes to make! Give this one a try, and ENJOY! You can even make it less or more spicy, to your taste. Throw some jalapenos in there if you want!

Ingredients

Shrimp

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound raw, frozen (wild caught) shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 fresh cracked pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp cayenne powder (or more if you like)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 TB butter

Rice

1 cup of water

1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice (depending on how many people you’re going to serve. Adjust according to amount of people you’re cooking for. This is for 4 people. Remember, if you increase amount of rice, also increase amount of water!! 2 parts water to 1 part rice)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed + extra

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed, drained

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped + extra

Remaining Ingredients

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 ripe avocado diced

1/2 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chilis

1/4 chopped sweet onion

1/4 tsp minced garlic

diced bell pepper (I used red)

1 TB butter

Instructions

Rice

Start this first!! Rinse the rice well either in a bowl or in a mesh colander until the water runs clear. Then put into a rice cooker, or a sauce pan and cook according to directions on package. Once rice is done and completely cooked, pour into a mixing bowl.

Mix in the lime juice, salt and cilantro and set aside.

Shrimp

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Drizzle shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle all of the seasonings evenly over the top.

Dollop the butter over the tops of some of the shrimp.

Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until cooked through, circled up tightly and no longer transparent in the middle. (Depending on size of shrimp. I usually use medium to jumbo shrimp).

Rice Skillet Mixture

Add the butter, black beans, onions, diced bell pepepr, and corn into the skillet. Sautee until the onions are translucent and add the salt, pepper, garlic and the 1/2 can of diced tomatoes with green chilis. Pour in the cilantro lime rice and stir to properly combine. Sprinkle in the fresh cilantro and top with the shrimp once cooked. Garnish with more cilantro and a bit of avocado!

Since going low-carb I’ve really missed some classics. I do love Italian food, especially lasagna! I’ve been wondering a good way to make it, without just using “gluten free” pasta, or corn pasta, or whatever. I found this recipe on pinterest: Zucchini Lasagna Rolls . I, of course, changed a few things and made my own version… but it was SO good and satisfying!!! Plus, you get your veggies, meat AND dairy all in 1 meal!!! Low carb, but I would save some calories for this one… lots of DELICIOUS cheese in this one!!

Ingredients:

Cheesy Filling

8 ounces ricotta cheese (I used 2%)

4 ounces low fat cottage cheese

3 tablespoons shredded fresh parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley roughly chopped

1 tablespoon fresh basil roughly chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tsp italian seasoning

1/4 tsp oregano

Black pepper to taste

Other Ingredients:

3 large zucchini cut lengthwise into 8 (1/4 inch thick) slices

1 lb lean (I used grass fed) ground beef

1 jar marinara sauce (I used Newman’s Own… use your favorite!)

3/4 to 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Instructions

Cheesy Ricotta Filling

Add all of the ingredients into a small bowl and stir until well blended.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Grilled Zucchini

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat. (Lightly salt grill pan if you use one)

While the grill is heating, slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick planks. (Try to get no thicker than this, and try to get all similar. Use a mandolin if you have one)

Brush with extra virgin olive oil (I used some garlic infused olive oil!! YUM!) on both sides of the zucchini planks, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the zucchini on the hot grill and cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until the zucchini is soft and pliable. (So that when you roll them they don’t break… but you also don’t want them mushy)

Remove from the grill and cool on a plate with a paper towel (to catch excess liquid) until they can be handled.

After we found out about the plethora of allergies my son had, one of the very first sauces I learned to make from scratch was teriyaki. I had been craving it, but didn’t know how it was made, and didn’t trust oils and different things at restaurants to keep any cross contamination of allergens getting into the sauce or food. So… I pulled up some recipes and made teriyaki sauce! SO easy!! I couldn’t believe that I had all of the ingredients just in my house! Now, if you don’t cook often, you may not… but the ingredients last for a long time, so if you like teriyaki… run out and get these ingredients and MAKE some!! It’s so delicious!

Ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins

1 zucchini, sliced and quartered

4 mini sweet bell peppers, any color, sliced thin

1/2 to 3/4 of a can of pineapple (or fresh!, whichever kind you like best)

Start off by making the teriyaki sauce by adding all of the sauce ingredients to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for about 1 minute. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.

Cook your rice. I just put water and rice into my rice cooker and hit a button. Either way, start it now.

Prepare your skillet and heat it to medium and coat with 1 TB olive oil. Salt and pepper both sides of your chicken. Add 1/4 cup of the teriyaki sauce to the chicken in the skillet to help cook. Brown both sides of your chicken, remove and dice into bite sized pieces and then add the diced chicken back to the skillet.

While your chicken is browning, chop your zucchini and carrots and slice your onions and peppers. Put 1/4 cup more of the teriyaki sauce into the skillet with the chicken and then add the carrots and onions. Cook until the carrots start to soften, and then add the broccoli, peppers and zucchini and the rest of the teriyaki sauce.

To serve, add rice to each bowl. Top with grilled veggies, pineapple and chicken. ENJOY!

I like the kind of dishes that you can make over and over again without a lot of effort or thought. The kinds that you can make with different ingredients, but it’s the same idea. This meal is like that. I’ve made it lots of different ways, but it’s the same main idea… like hash.Days like yesterday where it RAINS ALL DAY, the kids are restless and trying to break everything in your house, just to keep their hands preoccupied (seriously, me finding my little boy every few minutes, with his hands busy doing something he SHOULD NOT) and it takes everything in me to just MAKE DINNER. That was last night. But… I made dinner! I grabbed a bunch of ingredients out of my fridge, chopped them up, dumped them all in the skillet, added some seasonings, and SERVED. That’s it. Done. And Delicious. There’s a few ways to do it too, depending on what meats and ingredients you have! I’ll give you the alternatives in the ingredients list. Get creative with it!

Ingredients

4-6 chicken tenderloins chopped (You can also use kielbasa, or leftover rotisserie chicken)

2 large carrots diced (you can also use frozen, even mixed veggies if you want!)

I am NOT a “canner” when it comes to jam. I literally had one of those small flats of strawberries that I bought off of my friends that were called “jam-berries” because they were quite ripe and DELICIOUS! The cost is about half price of what a normal flat is too! (check your local strawberry farm to see if they do that there too!)

So, I had to find a couple of recipes and BLEND them. I can’t ever do things the way can I? HA!

Here’s the 4 links for the jam that I made, and then I will post what I actually did.

I don’t think that I exactly made it in the traditional way… but I’ve gotta say, it turned out WONDERFULLY!!! My entire batch is delicious…!!!

Disclaimer: I DID sanitize my jars, but in the dishwasher and then heated them up in the sink, not by boiling them. Follow whatever instructions that it shows on the above recipes for the proper way to do so.

Put a small plate in the freezer. Place the mashed strawberries, lemon zest and lemon juice in a nonreactive 10-quart stockpot set over medium-high heat. Stir in the pectin until dissolved. Bring the strawberries to a strong boil.

Add the sugar (measure beforehand so you can add it all at once), and then return the mixture to a full (violent) boil that can’t be stirred down. Boil hard for 1 minute 15 seconds. Skim foam off the top.

Perform a gel test: Place a spoonful of jam on chilled plate, and return to freezer. Wait 1 to 2 minutes; remove plate from freezer, and gently press jam with fingertip; it should wrinkle slightly.

After jam passes the gel test, remove from heat. Pour warm jam into jars; seal, label, and refrigerate up to 4 months.

Fill the jars so that they have 1/4-inch of space at the top. Run a knife down the side of the jar to get rid of air bubbles. Wipe the rim of the jar with a wet cloth to remove any residue or stickiness.

And there you have it! That recipe made 1 LARGE jar (the size of a spaghetti sauce jar) and one small jar full (the size in the pictures above). Try it, you’ll like it!!! You can add sugar and reduce pectin, or vice versa. I honestly made it that way because I completely RAN OUT of sugar!!! AAAH! 🙂

It seems as though I can’t get “into the groove” of constantly blog posting. I think it’s really just since I went to mainly “gluten free” and low carb. I try to use as much vegetables as possible and clean eating.

But, I’m determined. If I could do it before, I can do it too! I’ve gotta post more recipes for my jam that I am making today (YUM!) and dinner.

I’ve said in a previous post, every 2 weeks, before I go grocery shopping, I meal plan. I use pinterest to keep the recipes. Sometimes I only search on pinterest, otherwise I use it to save recipes from other websites that I find new and yummy recipes. From those 10 recipes that I’ve chosen, (I only plan for dinner. For lunches we eat leftovers or salads, and we have toast and oatmeal for breakfast.) I make a grocery shopping list. Once I make that shopping list, I add anything else I needed for other meals or odds and ends.

I will say this, my kids do NOT always eat the same thing we do. My husband comes home after 6 or 7 pretty regularly during the week, so my kids eat around 5 or 5:30, and it’s usually something different than we eat. On the weekends I try to have them eat the same thing as us, and we try to all eat at the table together. My son also has A LOT of food allergies, which adds to his picky eating…. there’s so little I can serve him, I’m constantly working on giving him a variety. SO… don’t assume my kids willingly eat everything I make. They don’t. They are normal. They do not have amazing “pallets” like chefs say about their kids on t.v.. Nope. Not my kids. My daughter’s favorite food is Little Ceasars bread sticks. Yeah. My son at least has an actual that’s his favorite: meatballs made by mommy. I do have them try the things that my son isn’t allergic to, and my daughter LOVES to sample my salads (as long as theirs no chicken… that’s a no-go.) etc. Beyond that, it’s smoothies. I give vitamins, smoothies and probiotics. They’ll get it one day. They don’t have to be perfect and put together and eat everything I want them to try now. We will slowly get there. I won’t give up… but I’m not worried about it either. We’ll get there.

Here is my pinterest board for the next 2 weeks (with extra meals in case suddenly everything I pinned looks gross… that happen to you ever??) http://pin.it/tLV_PYf

Anyone reading this, if you have suggestions of some great websites for low carb recipes, please share!!

Most recipes I find, I change at least 3+ things, and therefore the recipe becomes mine. If I do not, I share the recipe, how AMAZING it was, and a link to that person’s site.

Instead of a song of the day, I’m going to share a website that I think more people need to know about.

In the last few months, the MASSIVE problem of human trafficking has been brought to my attention. Not that I didn’t know about it before, I did. I just didn’t realize how BIG it was, or that it even happened so much HERE, in the U.S.! You always think of it as a problem way out east. Not true! You can support this AMAZING ministry who is helping the women and children brought by force into the slave trade! This ministry is giving them a completely different occupation! Giving them their dignity back! Consider checking out their website! SO full of information on ways you can help!!! Let’s give back! 🙂